Penny Warris, Chairperson of the Crowsnest Pass Municipal Library Board, met with council to highlight some of the changes and future of the board. “One of the roles of our board is advocacy, so we are here to highlight some changes to our board tonight.”

Warris noted some key accomplishments of the board. The merger of the Bellevue and Blairmore Libraries was completed in 2012 with several physical changes being done to facility layout. “The children’s area is now upstairs, it has been painted and updated. It’s a much more welcoming, brighter, friendlier area to read and interact. We are using the best practices of other libraries and we have been motivated by the municipal branding project to create our own logo.”

Presently there are three full time staff, Diane deLauw, Senior Librarian and Angela Janiga and Judy Bradley, Library Assistants.

All staff attended the library conference in 2013 and will return again in 2014.

Warris made special mention of Marg Hay who has been volunteering for the story time program with the kids for the past thirty years.

The library board consists of 6 members with Councillor Glavin as the council representative.

Regarding community collaboration, the library is working with the Boys and Girls Club, Kids Kollege, 40 Developmental Assets Group, CNP Literacy and Compassionate Friends.

According to Warris, “the library is excited to once again host the PJ Party and Easter Eggstravaganza and has partnered with other organizations to host events with overwhelming success”.

Membership went up from 897 to 991 household members in 2013. With merging, there had to be a downsizing of collection. “Some books were donated to Kainai Library, some to Better World Books, and Pincher Creek used excess shelving.”

Library members of Chinook Arch Library Regional System also have access to the centralized usage of 20,000 magazines and audio books. “You can order books from all over Alberta and the world and have them brought into the library. It allows you to do everything 24/7.”

Warris noted that computer usage in the facility is up from 1800 hours in 2011 to 5350 hours in 2013.

Councillor Lazzarotto, “do you charge a fee to use the computers?” Warris responded that people without a membership could use the computers. “It’s not like a city library where you have to sign in with a card. The computer is now like a business area because of the fast internet with the Supernet”.

Councillor Kovach, “are we going to get a financial statement from the board telling us how much was your surplus?” Warris noted that the 2013 surplus was around $18,000.

Mayor Painter, “Thank you for your presentation. It’s a great asset to our community and it’s nice to go and check it out”.